Friday, May 30

I have yet to introduce you to some of the other artists who were participating to the Arts Festival by Yellowren that took place at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku at the beginning of May.

Almost everyone had a link with Singapore - after all even though I am currently based in Tokyo, I have lived for nearly 5 years and even got married there. Two of my arts & crafts buddies were part of the exhibition and it was a real treat to meet up with Sandy of The Cookie Cutter again after 2 years. Sandy makes the quirkiest plushies and her new line of Superheroes (picture above) won my heart rather fast (especially Superman and Batman)!

A series of animals and cheesy puns designs handmade using a burning tool on wooden bowls. Dedicated to my husband who loves animals. Lettering and corny jokes. The cheesy puns add an humorous spin to the anthropomorphism of the animals. The choice of using pyrography on wood was made to remind us of how humans are affecting the environment.

A photography narratives that invites us to consider our interaction with each other and our environment. The influences may be subtle or significant. Harmful or helpful. Fleeting or forever. In the dances we partake with each other, consider that the choreography can be beautiful or otherwise.

Note: I shall add that the beautiful photographies featured below were taken at a diving spot in Bali where a school of fishes can be found. Phua Boon Wah took these photos over the course of several months/ years. Same spot.

" As a face is reflected in water, so the hearts reflects the person." Proverbs 27:19

/// Chu Wei - Illustrator - Surroundings, nature, childhood funThe artworks revolve around a strong belief in the elusive yet innocent dimension of arts from the perspective of children presented on a cartooned manner. It represents the artist's desire to harmonise art with its community and their environment.

/// Pang - Visual Artist - The presence of absenceA selection of abstract shapes made from a common material reinterprets the relationship and narrative between environment, people and the objects that surrounds them.

Note: This was one of the most inspiring project for me. Pang used white vinyl tape that he rolled and assembled to form these rather organic, lively shapes. Although the whole process took hours to be completed, the end result was well wort it, stunning!

/// Nalu Miyamoto - paper Cutting ArtistMiyamoto-san is the first paper artist in the world to use a Japanese katana (or samurai sword), mad-to-mesure for her by a Japanese craftsman, to create her paper art.

When Polkadot + Moonbeam play their original compositions and their favourite jazz and latin standards. The warm strums and playful tinkling of te solo ukulele is in itself lovely, unpretentious an still. The panic or melodica -a passionate unabashed suitor then weaves about a song of courtship. Sometimes a quiet intimacy. Sometimes a hearty conversation. And at other times. A light-hearted teasing banter. But always together, ceaselessly enjoying their beautiful friendship and love at this festival. They will present two segments of unplugged, instrumental music.

Note: I missed their performances unfortunately but you can listen to a piece of their music here.

Thursday, May 29

Now that the series of posts on The Hobby Show is all done, I can share with you another project I have worked on at the beginning of May, thanks to Yellowren. An art boutique based in Singapore, Yellowren organises every year an Arts Festival in both Tokyo and Singapore. The Tokyo edition took place at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku from May 2-7, 2014. I had proposed to decorate a wall using my beloved mt masking tapes on the exhibition theme: Between Us.

The pronoun “us” is often used to represent the connection between two persons or that within a collective. Yet what are the dynamics and synergy that develop spaces to create “us”? Do “us” refer only to human relations? What about connections between people and their physical environment?

Inspiration struck one evening in April and I came up with the sketch below which attempt to express one's constant struggle to find balance in life. In my case, finding the balance in my daily life in Tokyo the megalopolis, knowing I grew up in the green and wild country side of France. How does one deal with the pressure, the speed and the pollution offered in the city? It is especially hard when you have experienced another lifestyle in the past, more laid back, relaxing and easy-going. The stars all around represents the space/ universe (le firmament), something we all have in common no matter where or how we live; the roof over our head.

I used the colours of the masking tapes to reflect this, bright/ happy colours to depict the "lost heaven" and black/ silver/ grey to illustrate the titanesque city. One challenge was to manage to create curves with he masking tapes and I am happy to report that the range of slim tapes (3mm) by mt work really well and allow you to create all kind of shapes. I will make sure to increase my collection and explore more in the near future. As I was constantly thinking about the realisation of this wall decoration while working on the Hobby Show set up as well, I came up with the idea of creating a three-dimensional art, bringing some details up and towards the visitor. What I didn't plan however was how well would this idea work with the lighting available at the gallery. It projected several shadows on the wall, adding to my own work.

Two photos above by Kanako Furukawa - used with permission

Here below is the piece of art created by Kanako Furukawa of Yellowren in her inspiration notebook after tearing off all the tapes used to create my wall decoration. I was really happy to see it!

photo by Kanako Furukawa - used with permission.

Here below are photos of the gallery with all the artists installations. I will share my pictures of other's work in Part 2 of this series on the Yellowren Arts Festival exhibition.

my work was at the back on the left wall.

I hope I inspired you to create more decoration at your home using the wonderful masking tapes and paper. They are so fun to work with and so easy to adapt to any surface, try them out!

Mark up your calendar to see the Singapore edition of the Arts Festival:

Wednesday, May 28

Opposite my booth at the Hobby Show was the Sophie et Chocolat booth, super stylish, fun and also very ... French! I was introduced to their work thanks to the editor of Tukutte as they were also featured in the first issue, but we only met while setting up our booths at the Hobby Show.

Chieko Onodera (manager/designer) and Kyoko Hatanaka (director/ designer), pictured below, are the two wonderful ladies behind Japanese label Sophie et Chocolat. They are passionate by French vintage items, polka dots, glitter materials and parties and their styling is just... delicious!

Sounds like we have a lot in common, doesn't it?

Kyoko Hatanaka and Chieko Onodera

I took the photo below next to the big wall featuring an image from their feature in Tukutte magazine.

The little girls loved them of course, especially after spotting a Barbie horse in the Sophie et Chocolat display... Did you see it?